1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a writing image acquisition apparatus that has an image-processing function, and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, various information has come to be made into electronic data and saved. This is because there are the following merits to save information as electronic data. It is possible to store much more data on an electromagnetic storage medium such as a CD-ROM or hard disk than on paper, and it is possible to greatly economize on the space of the location for safekeeping of information storage materials. Information can be easily shared using a network server. Also, because data can be simply encrypted, it is possible to prevent divulgence of information even in the event that information storage materials are stolen.
Because these merits are obtained, there are also companies that, after information conventionally kept on paper has been converted to electronic data by reading it with a scanner and saved, works to dispose of paper on which information has been written.
Scanners are widely used in order to convert information written on paper to electronic data. Also, a method using a scanner has been proposed, as disclosed in Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 11-272654. According to that method, it is possible to extract contents appended to a page space where the contents of an electronic file document have been printed.
In recent years, with the spread of portable terminal apparatuses such as notebook computers or PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), there are increasing numbers of people who input notes conventionally written on a paper medium such as a notebook into a portable terminal apparatus and save the notes as electronic data. However, it is thought that there are many people who write notes on a paper medium just as before, and paper mediums for writing notes will continue to be found useful in the future as well. This is because with a paper medium, because it is not necessary to turn on power as in the case of a portable terminal apparatus, notes can be written immediately. Also, this is because notes using text, symbols, formulas, illustrations, charts and the like can be simply written with a pen without switching application software and tools.
Other than those, paper mediums have merits as follows. For example, in meetings or the like, documents printed on a paper medium are distributed to attendees, and each attendee can freely write notes of their thoughts during the meeting or remarks of other people in blank portions or between lines near relevant places in the documents distributed to each attendee. When notes are written in this manner, the relevance between the contents of notes and the contents of the documents will be easy to understand at a later date.
Even with respect to paper documents distributed to a plurality of people and to which information such as notes is appended, with the method disclosed in Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 11-272654, note portions are extracted and converted to electronic data, and such paper documents can be managed. Also, with respect to one document, it is possible to gather the electronic data of the information appended by each respective person.
However, with conventional methods like that disclosed in Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 11-272654, it may take time and labor to extract information appended to a document including a plurality of pages. That is, according to a conventional method, even when information is appended to only some of the pages of the document, it is necessary to extract the appended information page-by-page, which takes time. When a user manually removes only the pages to which information is appended, and extracts the appended information from those pages, this operation takes labor to perform.